Post navigation

Natives protesting at wind turbine sites

By Monte Sonnenberg, Simcoe Reformer
HALDIMAND – A surprise native protest in southwest Haldimand Thursday disrupted work at two wind turbine projects near the Nanticoke Industrial Park. As many as 30 natives in a convoy – some wearing traditional garb and waving native flags – interrupted work at several turbine and substation construction sites. At least one work crew gathered up its equipment and left for the day after they arrived.

The protests occurred in the area of Walpole concession roads 3 and 4 between Nanticoke and Varency. Const. Mark Foster of the Haldimand OPP said the roving protest touched down at half a dozen sites. The projects affected belong to NextEra Energy Canada and Capital Power Corporation.

Josie Hernandez, spokesperson for NextEra, confirmed that the protest was motivated in part by her company’s removal of an eagle’s nest near Fisherville two weeks ago. Hernandez said the company welcomed the opportunity to share NextEra’s plans for habitat enhancements in the area where its turbines will be situated. “We understand the need for protest,” she said. “That was good. We appreciated that. We will continue to communicate with them as this project proceeds. It is something we understand.”

Some predicted that aboriginals from Six Nations would react badly to the nest’s destruction, which occurred Jan. 5. A young pair built the nest in November in an area slated for three turbines. Aboriginals in southern Ontario consider eagles sacred.

Aboriginals weren’t the only ones upset by the incident. Nancy Nicklan, owner of Floyd’s Bar & Grill in Nanticoke and a witness to two of the protests Thursday, says everyone in south Haldimand is “furious” about it. “That was it,” Nicklan said. “Everyone has been losing their minds since.” Read article

9 thoughts on “Natives protesting at wind turbine sites”

Most excellent !!! Henandez is tunnel visioned and chants the company mantra.. it’s all going to come to a head sooner or later, with this GEA pushing people around..Human nature dictates one can only put up with it for so long before the $–t hits the fan…It appears it’s getting closer, methinks !! Just sayin’

This is my favourite part of the story…
“Hernandez said the company welcomed the opportunity to share NextEra’s plans for habitat enhancements in the area where its turbines will be situated. “We understand the need for protest,” she said. “That was good. We appreciated that. We will continue to communicate with them as this project proceeds. It is something we understand.” ”

The light that lies in Josie’s eyes… and lies and lies and lies. And she smiles all the time she’s doing it. Tom Bird in the clip above tends more to snear at us.
We’re glad you appreciate protests, Josie, because we’re just warming up.

I hope the native protesters see what a sham this all is. Next era doesn’t give a flying f…. about eagles,wildlife of any kind or people. They only care about money and only know how to talk with money. They will plow over anyone who gets in their way.

There has been a grave injustice done to the Native peoples in the tampering of the Eagles Nest. Unfortunately, a lot of folks are totally unaware of the native legends, and that is a truly sad thing, making this a happening which has stemmed from ignorance. As native legend would have it, when the earth was made, the Eagle was sent by The Great Creator, to watch over the land. As far as the native peoples are concerned, the Eagle is a symbol of power to watch over and to protect the peoples of the earth.
By tampering with the great Spirit, humans have now insulted and hurt the Native peoples and their beliefs. There may be no forgiveness

In November 2012, New Era was the first wind facility in the nation to apply to the USFWS for an “Incidental Take Permit” to be allowed to kill bald eagles with their wind turbines without the danger of federal prosecution. Bald eagles are protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Without an ITP, killing an eagle is against federal law. The ITP process for New Era is not yet completed.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service predicts that between 8 and 14 American bald eagles could be killed annually if New Era Wind Farm is built as currently designed. The outcome of USFWS’s eagle mortality models are dramatically higher than one eagle every-other-year as predicted by New Era’s consultant Westwood Professional Services.

According to Josie Hernandez, spokesperson for NextEra, “removal of an eagle’s nest is NextEra’s plans for habitat enhancements in the area where its turbines will be situated.” So you remove the eagles nest, desecrate the environment, slice and dice the bats and birds to produce power we do not need – all in the name of Green Energy. Something’s wrong here – protect the birds, the bats and the people.

“We understand the need for protest,” she said. “That was good. We appreciated that. We will continue to communicate with them as this project proceeds. It is something we understand.”
Josie Hernandez is full of bullshit , she knows nothing of what the natives want or think and she knows nothing of all that motivated the shutdown ………………

Re: the comment from Mr. Sonnenberg …. “A young pair built the nest in November….” Anyone who has seen the nest knows, for a fact, that the nest had been there for some time and wasn’t quickly “thrown together” in November! The nest was well established! That’s what makes the removal of an active nest even more tragic!! Pictures showing the use of a crane, for removal, don’t lie!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

This article is the work of the source indicated. The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 29 of the Canadian Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of Ontario Wind Resistance's noncommercial effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a provincial and global audience seeking such information.